Sunday, May 31, 2009

Toronto is a pot o' gold

Pretty stunning rainbow arcing over the city last night. From where I was seeing it – nine floors up, way out yonder in the Distillery District – it appeared to be touching down right next to a docked tanker ship:

2 comments:

Emily D
said...

SUrely you know it's a slippery slope from posting rainbow pics to full-on sunset and zoo shots. Unless you can show us the actual pot of gold on the actual tanker, then I said rainbow schmainbow whitlock.

Hey, you get what you pay for here, Em. And since I'm in a rare, "looking at rainbows" kind of mood, rainbows are what you get. Just be glad I went a few days without plugging my book. (Which is still available at many fine bookstores, and for a fair price...)

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"A Week of This is bleak, funny, sad, smart, and unlike any novel I have ever read." – Todd Babiak, author of The Book of Stanley

"A portrait of people in a small town so intimate that it feels like you are under the covers with them. Like Tom Perrotta's Little Children, Whitlock examines the horror and grace of suburban life." – Heather O'Neill, author of Lullabies for Little Criminals

"With this debut novel, Whitlock demonstrates a keen insight into the hearts of those living lives of quiet desperation, and deeper, into the fundamental truths of the human soul." – Robert J. Wiersema, author of Before I Wake

"With his first novel Nathan Whitlock has definitely found his voice ... any of the characters could be any one of us on any day of the week." – Ottawa Citizen

"Not your parents' classic Canadian novel [...] A Week of This might be the truth." – The Toronto Star"It's as if he's transplanted a group of rough-edged, foul-mouthed "folk" from reality TV to the printed page and completely blown off the shallowness and the stereotypes attached to them. His characters are individuals with beating hearts and wounded histories and sentimental hopes for the future. Before long, we sink unresistingly into their stories." – The Vancouver Sun

The novel is full of intimately suggestive details [...] A nod as well has to be given to the dialogue, especially the inventive and rhythmic way the characters swear. Some of the exchanges are laugh-out-loud funny. – The Edmonton Journal

"[The character of Manda is] an impressive and unsparingly true-to-life creation." – The Globe and Mail

"Weirdly enjoyable ... Whitlock has such a fine knack for observational details that one can’t help but become engrossed. A Week of This is filled with engaging prose about the mundane." – Popmatters.com

"Whitlock takes four simple lives and puts a brilliant, page turning twist on each of them ... The novel ends on Wednesday just as it had begun and it continues in the reader's mind forever. A Week Of This is the life of each of us." – Ottawa Xpress

"What's most impressive about the book is its sense of control ... The pace is well maintained and the days pass quickly. Not, however, without having a powerful impact." – The Waterloo Record

"Whitlock has an excellent grasp of metaphor and simile, and A Week of This is a highly polished novel." – THISmagazine

“Whitlock possesses a strong command of language and an easiness with metaphor; his characters are drawn evocatively, even when they act predictably.” – Booklist